“I regret that the President vetoed this bill – thereby defying the will of the American people and bipartisan majorities in Congress. This carefully crafted bipartisan legislation fully funded our troops – in fact, providing more funding for the war on terror than the President requested – and held the Iraqis accountable for the first time in four years. Furthermore, it provided for a responsible redeployment of American forces from Iraq – a provision supported by nearly two-thirds of Americans.

“On this fourth anniversary of the President’s ‘Mission Accomplished’ statement, it is clear the President was engaging – tragically – in wishful thinking. More than 3,300 Americans have been killed in Iraq, 25,000 have been injured, and more than $400 billion has been spent.

“Meanwhile, we are not we are not making the progress in Iraq that this Administration has promised. Just this week, for example, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction concluded that ‘the U.S. project to rebuild Iraq remains far short of its targets, leaving the country plagued by power outages, inadequate oil production and shortages of clean water and health care.’

“The President must understand that this new Congress will not rubber-stamp the same failing stay-the-course policy that has put our troops and our nation in the position we are in today. We are pursuing a change of direction and a policy that is designed to succeed, not more of the same. In the days ahead, we will work with the President and Republicans in Congress to forge a new direction in Iraq.”